1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to a refrigerator including first and second French-style doors, as well as a rotating mullion bar that enables independent operation of each of the first and second French-style doors.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In general, refrigerators having French-style doors are known. Typically, French-style doors are used in side-by-side configurations to seal fresh food and freezer compartments. With the growing popularity of bottom mount refrigerators, manufacturers are now finding it desirable to provide French-style doors for the upper fresh food compartment.
French-style doors are desirable for a number of reasons, foremost among them is weight reduction. By design, French-style doors divide an opening in half such that each French door is approximately half the weight of a conventional door. In addition, with the increased number of storage zones being employed on refrigerator doors, the use of French-style doors enhances the arrangement for storing, as well as the accessibility to a wide variety of objects. Accordingly, when used in conjunction with a fresh food compartment, the size and strength of support structure, generally required in side-by-side applications, can be reduced substantially. However, despite all of the desirable features, there exists a drawback with French-style doors in that a mullion bar, which in side-by-side configurations divides the fresh food and freezer compartments, hinders taking goods in and out of the fresh food compartment. While the mullion is not required to “divide” the compartments, French-style doors require a central sealing surface.
A stationary mullion bar fixed to the refrigerator will limit the size and shape of goods capable of being placed in the compartment, as well as the accessibility to the goods. Toward that end, manufactures have devised two solutions to confront this issue. One solution is to mount a stationary mullion on one of the two French-style doors. With this arrangement, the door with the mullion is closed first, then the second door is closed against the mullion. While effective, this design necessitates a specific order of opening and closing the French-style doors and, if not followed, could lead to the door with the mullion bar being left ajar which would allow the cool air within the compartment to leak out.
The second solution offered to date by refrigerator manufacturers utilizes a rotating or pivoting mullion that alleviates the problems associated with the stationary mullion discussed above. Like the stationary mullion, the rotating mullion is carried by one of the two French-style doors. Typically, the mullion is caused to pivot when the door is opened or closed, with the mullion pivoting about hinge elements that allow the mullion to travel between first and second positions. Most designs include a locking mechanism, either in the form of a magnetic retaining element or a separate, spring biased, lock. In any event, the locking mechanism retains the mullion in the second position when the door is open, yet releases as the door is closed to allow the mullion to rotate into the first position. While the known retaining and locking mechanisms are functional, they necessarily require additional parts and manufacturing steps which add to the cost and complexity of the overall design.
Based on the above, there still exists a need in the art for a refrigerator having French-style doors and a rotating mullion. More specifically, there exists a need in the art for a rotating mullion that integrates a locking mechanism within a hinge to reduce the number of component parts, as well as the complexity of manufacturing.